Sprite Launches Mobile Social Net
Coca-Cola continued its aggressive forays into digital media with the launch of a mobile social network aimed at teens and young adults.
Called The Sprite Yard, the mobile community application allows users to set up a profile, send messages and photos to friends, and download content like visual ring tones and animated mobisodes. The Sprite Yard launched in China earlier this month and will go live in the U.S. on June 22. Those two markets represent over half of Sprite's sales, a Coke executive said.
Users join the community by texting a code ("YARD" in the U.S. market) that returns a link to the mobile site.
In a press conference at the Mobile Marketing Forum, Coke executives painted The Sprite Yard as a long-term commitment from the company and a sign of its shift from one-way messaging in traditional media to community-based bonding in digital channels.
"We're looking at an opportunity to move from impressions to consumer connections," said Mark Greatrex, svp, marketing communications and insights at Coke. "We think we're on the cusp of transforming the marketing model."
Coke last July remade Coke.com as a YouTube-like community. After initially disavowing the Diet Coke-Mentos viral video sensation, the company has fully embraced it, running subsequent contests on Coke.com and YouTube, and even bringing its creators, Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, to its headquarters. Greatrex called it a "wonderful viral marketing phenomenon."
The Sprite Yard is the result of an eight-month effort by Coke to build a mobile platform. The company plans to extend it to its other brands eventually. Coke executives declined to give projections for how many users the mobile community would attract. It plans on promoting it on Sprite packaging. Sprite bottles will also carry codes customers can use on The Sprite Yard to download free content.
Greatrex said in an interview that the company estimates its young target market for Sprite spends about 50 percent of its media time in digital channels, outpacing traditional media like TV. Bit by bit, he said, the company's marketing mix would begin to reflect that.
"We can anticipate a shift into new media which will reduce the proportion of traditional media," he said. "Traditional media will have a reduced slice of the pie."
Coke created The Sprite Yard with several partners, including Aegis Group digital agencies Molecular and Marvelous. WPP Group's LiveWorld is providing moderation. Coke also consulted with carriers on the implementation, and is working with McDonald's to market The Sprite Yard in China.
Officials were at pains to say The Sprite Yard does not necessarily represent Coke deciding not to work with existing networks like MySpace and Facebook that are building mobile platforms. "It's not a mutually exclusive proposition," said Greatrex.
Coke said it is in talks with Facebook about establishing links, but declined to say what such a partnership would entail.